We all saw how Floyd Mayweather taught Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez a thing or two when they met in the ring, but it also looks as though the five-division champ gave the emerging superstar a huge lesson in how to play the boxing business game.
Canelo, it would appear, has learned the art of risk management from Mayweather and seems more than willing, like Mayweather, to leverage his drawing power into full control of his environment. Evidence of this is clear when it comes to how the 25-year-old Mexican star is handling himself in the rush to pair him against Gennady Golovkin.
?I?ve sacrificed my body and a lot of things in my fights with Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather and in this moment, I?m not out to give advantages to no one and not GGG,? Alvarez recently told Boxingscene. ?I?ve given advantages in other big fights so the fight will happen but the conditions have to be right where I feel comfortable and where he thinks he feels comfortable.?
It?s not entirely fair to say that Floyd Mayweather didn?t take risks in his career choices?no fighter can stay at the very top of the sport for so long without quality B-sides. Contrary to what people like to say and write, Mayweather?s resume is right where it should be.
But when it came to risk management, Mayweather excelled in the area of avoiding UNNECESSARY risk.
Mayweather thrived for so long because he conceded no advantage to his foes and refused to jump at the bait and try to take on challenges sure to bring him damage and/or defeat.
Once a fighter reaches a certain level of success, there will be countless people trying to figure out a way to piggyback off that success. And many of those people are, themselves, looking for the easiest road possible to the greatest yield.
Most fighters eventually take the bait coming from networks and/or public opinion to overextend themselves. Eventually, when pulled far enough from their prime conditions, they fall and the industry pounces on them, picking meat from their bones like hungry vultures. This is why so many great boxers finish their run as beaten and fallen warriors.
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Love him or hate him, Mayweather never let that happen and he went out on his own terms?something that angers the industry old timers to no end.
And now Canelo Alvarez seems to have learned from the Mayweather model. If the red-headed native of Guadalajara holds firm to what he?s saying now, he plans on using the muscle power provided by his drawing power to carry out his career on his own terms.
If Golovkin wants him, then Golovkin will have to jump through the hoops. Alvarez doesn?t need Golovkin, Golovkin needs Alvarez. And if he holds firm on this philosophy, Alvarez will establish himself as the true power in the 154-160 lb. weight range?provided he keeps winning.
Whether you see this type of career management as shrewd or cowardly, the fact of the matter is that it?s not your body on the line and not your money being affected by these decisions. Alvarez is doing what?s best for himself, his family, and his future.
From the ashes of the Mayweather schooling, Canelo has learned to worry about Canelo and that?s just how it?s going to be.
